Pope: the 10th Meeting of Families will be a global event
The event is set for 22-26 June 2022 in Rome. Bishops are invited to organise activities in their diocese, for the same period. On every continent, at home, with a computer or smartphone, families will be able to participate remotely. The inaugural meeting with the Pope, that is, the Festival of Families on 22 June; the Mass on Saturday afternoon, 25 June, with all the families of Rome in St. Peter's Square; and the Angelus the next day, will be broadcast worldwide.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – The 10th World Meeting of Families, centred on the theme “Family love: A vocation and a path to holiness”, will take place in dioceses around the world, and online. The meeting in Rome will also be available online, live.
At the presentation of the meeting, Card Kevin Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, said that the “worldwide event will allow families to participate in diocesan meetings, celebrations and Holy Masses, which each bishop is invited to organise in his own diocese, on the same days in which the Pope meets the delegates of Bishops’ Conferences, family movements and associations in Rome.”
The festival with the testimonies of families will be held in Rome on 22 June 2022 in the Pope’s presence. The pastoral congress will be held from 23 June to the morning of 25 June, and will include celebrations and Eucharistic adorations, pastoral conferences and panels to share pastoral experiences from all over the world. On the afternoon of Saturday 25 June, Francis will celebrate Mass in St Peter's Square, followed by the Angelus the next day.
“We urge the bishops,” Card Farrell said, “to accept the holy Father's invitation and plan both the journey of preparation for the event, and the diocesan event itself, which can take place in the week from 22 to 26 June 2022, in parallel with the Pope's Meeting in Rome with the delegates.”
“The beauty of this opportunity,” he added, “consists in the fact that not only those who work in the pastoral care of the family, but all the families in parishes and dioceses will be able to gather around their bishop.”
As for the delegates, their number, noted Gabriella Gambino, under-secretary of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, “will be proportional to the size of the Bishops’ Conferences. The same goes for movements and associations who will have a pre-established number of delegates.”
“We will directly send suggestions to the bishops in dioceses around the world, on how to organise the event at the local level for the first time. We realise that it is not easy to take the initiative, especially in some geographical areas and in some particular pastoral situations, but we encourage everyone to try to involve families in this adventure. Many families wish to participate and would like to be involved even at the diocesan level.
“In the dioceses, the meetings can be set up starting from the theme chosen by the Holy Father, which forms the basis of seven catecheses that will soon be published by the Diocese of Rome in five languages and be available to the whole world. These catecheses constitute in themselves a journey of preparation for the meetings to be held both in Rome and individual dioceses.”
“Families, on every continent, at home, with a computer or smartphone, will have the opportunity to participate remotely with a special registration method both during the preparation process – over the next few months in fact, once registered, they will receive information on the pastoral tools that will be gradually made available by our Dicastery – and during the Rome meeting online in the week from 22 to 26 June 2022.”
In this regard, Mgr Walter Insero, director of the Social Communications Office of the Diocese of Rome, noted that "one of the main challenges will consist not only in strengthening communication, but also in encouraging social participation in this event.”
“In addition to face-to-face meetings organised at local level, families from every continent will have the opportunity to feel close to each other by following the World Meeting in Rome with their computer or smartphone.
“The journey of preparation will also be made available to everyone online thanks to the website www.romefamily2022.com. The delegates in attendance will be joined by thousands of participants. Every moment of the World Meeting can be followed in streaming on social media.”
“The inaugural meeting with the Pope, that is, the Festival of Families on 22 June 2022, in the Paul VI Hall, will be broadcast worldwide, as will the Holy Mass on Saturday afternoon, 25 June, with all the families of Rome in St Peter's Square, and the Angelus the next day with the mandate to families from all over the world.
“During the months leading up to the event, the website will serve mainly to disseminate content that can help dioceses, movements, associations organise events, reflections and meetings in local communities. There will be space for the seven catechises, which will be gradually published, linked to videos with testimonies.
“A section of the site will be dedicated to collecting material put out by the Diocese of Rome and the Dicastery, available to everyone to download for free: logos, videos, texts, suggestions.
“Another section will be reserved for concrete help to the three Roman projects that support families in difficulty, of which Cardinal De Donatis spoke earlier.
“As far as the social strategy is concerned, we have opted for an approach centred on many centres. The goal is to involve as many people online as possible to share with them our hashtag #wmof22 and thus share our content.”
“In addition to the videos that will address the themes of catechesis, there will be interviews with Roman families, testimonies of families from other continents, some stories of holy families, and more.”
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